"The man who never reads will never be read. He who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own ... You need to read" - C H Spurgeon.
"To fail to learn from the pulpit of the past is to impoverish that of the present" - Tony Sargent

Saturday, 20 December 2008

John Stott on Acts 9:17 - Laying on of Hands

Acts 9:17 - Ananias laying hands on Saul: "I suspect that this laying-on of hands was a gesture of love to a blind man".

Too right! It completely disregards the other times in Acts hands were laid on people, the culture of the time which had laying on of hands to impart a blessing, and the rest of the New Testament references to laying on of hands as methods of impartation.

I have a mixed reaction to a lot of John Stott's work. Often he's so right, but when he's wrong, I can't help thinking he's oh so wrong!!

Would seem to me that there is no power in the mere act of laying on of hands. If an elder of a church were in a car accident and lost both arms, could he no longer function in this duty? Would he have to be dismissed as an elder?

Whether laying on of hands of the sick, or embracing the dead as Paul did once, it would seem to me to be a godly compassion that goes hand-in-hand with the compassionate healing of Christ. That one faith healer supposedly healed people by kicking them in the face. Benny Hinn did his magic by hitting them with his jacket. But as Christians, we don't just pray for people -- we empathize with them, we show compassion and closeness and love. We don't just pray, we lay hands and pray. :D